Philip Seymour Hoffman dead at 46: Actor found in his New York City apartment with needle in arm after using heroin.

'I really thought this chapter was over,' said David Katz, the actor's friend who had just seen him a week before his death. Hoffman enjoyed an extensive Hollywood career, highlighted by a Best Actor Oscar win for his 2005 film 'Capote.'

JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The body of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, is removed from his West Village apartment by members of the office of the chief medical examiner in New York. The award-winning actor was found dead Sunday with a needle in his arm in a penthouse apartment on Bethune St.

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead Sunday morning on the bathroom floor of his West Village apartment with a hypodermic needle stuck in his left arm and bags of heroin strewn about his home, law enforcement sources said. He was 46.

The sources called the shocking death of Hoffman, who had struggled with addiction and reportedly did a 10-day rehab stint in May, an apparent overdose.

Hoffman, who in 2006 won the Best Actor Academy Award for playing the title role in “Capote,” was found by a friend, screenwriter David Katz, about 11:30 a.m. in the fourth-floor apartment on Bethune St. He was wearing boxers and a T-shirt.

VICTORIA WILL/INVISION/AP

Phillip Seymour Hoffman poses for a portrait during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Sources say the actor appeared to be having problems as recently as last month.

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“I saw him last week, and he was clean and sober, his old self,” Katz told the New York Times. “I really thought this chapter was over.”

Katz went to check on him after Hoffman failed to pick up his three kids — Cooper, 10, Tallulah 7, and Willa, 5 — from his estranged girlfriend at 9 a.m., a police source said.

DAVE SPENCER

Police stand by the door of the apartment building where actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of an apparent heroin overdose in New York City.

The mother of his kids, costume designer Mimi O’Donnell, 46, called Katz, who phoned Hoffman’s personal assistant, Isabella Wing-Davey, telling her to unlock the apartment Hoffman rented for nearly $10,000 a month, the source said. The 911 call was made from Wing-Davey’s cell phone, according to sources.

The voicemail greeting on Wing-Davey’s mobile phone gives callers the option to leave a message for “Bella Wing-Davey and Phil.”

BEN GABBE/GETTY IMAGES; DAVID BUCHAN/WIREIMAGE

Philip Seymour Hoffman was found in his apartment by screenwriter David Katz (left), who had called the actor's personal assistant, Isabella Wing-Davey (right) to unlock the door to Hoffman's home.

Sources said eight glassine envelopes — six empty and two containing what was believed to be heroin — were found with Hoffman, along with a charred spoon that seems to have been used for drugs.

One of the two envelopes containing drugs had the words “Ace of Spades” written on it, while the other was stamped with the ace of hearts symbol, the source said.

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DANNY MOLOSHOK/AP

Philip Seymour Hoffman at the premiere of 'A Most Wanted Man' at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 19.

Police will use the narcotics tracking database to help determine the origin of the heroin, a law enforcement source said. The exact cause and time of Hoffman’s death are pending the medical examiner’s investigation, police said.

Wing-Davey, a grad student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, who directed a short film “Candlesticks” that listed Hoffman as assistant director, declined comment when reached by phone.

“They were friends, very good friends,” said Meg Gibson, who worked with Hoffman and Wing-Davey on “Candlesticks.”

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Philip Seymour Hoffman walks children Cooper, Willa and Tallulah to school in New York City.

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Gibson noted that Hoffman was close friends with Wing-Davey’s father, Mark Wing-Davey, who chairs the graduate acting department at Tisch.

“She’s grown up with him,” Gibson said of Isabella Wing-Davey. “She’s been by his side in the last two months with everything he’s been working on.”

DAVE SPENCER

Police are at Hoffman's apartment, where two envelopes of what is believed to be heroin were found at the scene.

Katz could not be reached for comment.

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The two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment where Hoffman was living was rented about three months ago, and is three blocks from the $4.25 million apartment at 68 Jane St. that he purchased with O’Donnell in 2008.

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Philip Seymour Hoffman (center) won an Oscar for playing the title role in 'Capote.'

“He always looked happy. He was always doing stuff with the kids,” said neighbor Louise Weston, 45. “They would be on their bikes. He would be walking behind them carting toys.

“When he first moved here and saw him, I was star struck and was like, wow. But he was always very relaxed,” she added.

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AARON ST. CLAIR/SPLASH NEWS

Philip Seymour Hoffman started his acting career as a teenager at his high school in suburban Rochester.

A police crime-scene van was parked in front of 35 Bethune St. into the evening as investigators carried out large brown paper bags in front of more than 300 onlookers, who stretched around the corner. A single red daisy had been placed in front of the lobby door.

At about 6:45 p.m., city medical examiner workers wheeled Hoffman’s body out in a black body bag.

His family released a statement calling Hoffman’s death “tragic and sudden.”

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Philip Seymour Hoffman and son Cooper attend the Portland Trail Blazers versus New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 1.

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“We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone,” the statement said. “Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers.”

Doris Barr, the mother-in-law of Hoffman’s sister, Emily Barr, said people who knew him were grappling with his death.

COLBY D. CROSSLAND/GETTY IMAGES

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christina Hendricks attend the 'God's Pocket' premiere party during the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 17.

“I think it’s a difficult time for everybody who knew him and who knows the family,” said Doris Barr, 76, of suburban Rochester.